Noiki laughed. "Yeah, I said I'd do that," she replied as her and Amon walked out of the door. "I don't know... I think we're already late as it is. You can go buy pants by yourself if you want. I don't really want to risk being yelled at by Wolf. He sort of scares me," she said.

As soon as she stepped outside, she was taken aback by how cold it was. The harsh winds whipped around her face and played with her long red hair, as if trying to pull her head off. It was not a good feeling. 'Perhaps it's getting to be winter?' she thought, her eyes sweeping across the desolate waste land. Even with her red jacket, she still felt freezing in this type of cold. Not to mention that she was wearing shorts... Now that she thought of it, a pair of pants for herself wouldn't be such a bad thing. She still thought that they should go meet up with everyone else, though...

"Yeah, I'm going to catch up with the rest of the team. I don't want to stay out here very long anyway," she said, shivering a little and crossing her arms for warmth. She had planned on relaxing a little on this floor, but in these conditions it was impossible. Not to mention how utterly boring the landscape was... It was all just dirt and a few crappy-looking buildings.

Walking outside with Noiki Amon noticed that it has decently chillier than it had been the day before when they came to the floor. Amon was regretting losing his armor more than ever at this point due to the fact that the light shorts he had put on were really doing much for him in the warm department. He saw Noiki shivering next to him in front of the inn. Going through his inventory he got out a large woolen coat if had made on the first floor back when he wanted to learn about the crafting and smithing mechanics when he first started. It didn't really have any good stats but it was the warmest thing he could find. "Here, you look like you could use this more than me." He said hand Noiki the heavy coat. "Come on Wolf looks like he is getting anxious waiting for us and everybody else is probably there by now.

Walking through the streets Amon looked around and saw very few players around. "I guess nobody liked the design of the floor." Amon mumbled to himself trying not to shake in the cold. It didn't really surprise Amon that nobody was on the floor, he didn't even want to be there and he was in the front group. Amon thought of going back down but then it would be twice as hard to level up on floor 7, let alone fighting the boss. It would probably take twice the time to level up enough to fight the boss. Plus he didn't want to go without his friends. If anything happened to somebody while he was gone Amon would have probably blamed himself for his stupidity. Especially if it was Wolf or Noiki, somebody closer to him than the others were.

"Here we are." Amon announced. The outside looked like the rest of the town, decrepit and rundown, but he figured like the inn the inside would be lavish and expensive by normal standards. The sign outside only said <<The Last>> with the end sand-blasted off. He and Noiki walked in and immediately saw a giant stack of plates at a nearby table. Amon knew there was only a hand full of people who could eat like that and he was willing to bet his sword that he knew who it was. Sure enough walking by he saw the rest of the group there. "You didn't have to wait for us." Amon said pulling up 2 chairs, one for Noiki, and one for himself. Amon picked up a menu and wanted to head back to the inn and eat there instead. Most of the "edible" items on the menu didn't sounds so edible. Amon ordered something called Wicked Way Worms. After Amon ordered his less than appetizing entree Amon asked "So what did we miss?"

"So what did we miss?" Amon asked and Wolf lifted his head up from his 8th plate.

"Nothing, I haven't started yet," Wolf said. "But since everybody besides Blondie is here, I'm going to get started anyways. Across the street is a female NPC that is the holder of a group quest. It sounds difficult considering we have to acquire three gems, all of which are placed on opposite ends of each other. This town is divided into three main streets and those streets all continue towards the combat area. I hear three Legendary monsters, similar to the giant piranha that we met on the fourth floor, are the holders of the gems. The risk is that the legendary monster might be hard to kill with only 3 or 4 people and if one group dies, we won't be able to complete the quest. The reward is money, and a lot of it for each player that helped complete the quest, but money and a little exp only. I wanted to ask you guys, first, if you were up to it before going with our next option. So what do you guys think?" Wolf then resumed to devour his food while the group let that sink in.

A few more players had arrived before Wolf spoke. Galen listened carefully as he told everyone about the group quest. The quest involved acquiring 3 different gems, all in 3 different directions, and each one guarded by a legendary monster. The reward was a lot of col, and some experience, but nothing else. Wolf expressed his concern with the risk involved. It would require the group to split up, about 3-4 players each to insure that they completed the quest in time. This would of course mean that if any one group couldnt defeat their legendary monster, everyone would more than likely fail the quest. Besides the fact that no one wanted anyone to die, especially over a quest.

Everyone in the party seemed to be lost in thought over the idea. Galen was no exception. Hmm. Our ultimate goal is to defeat the floor boss, but inorder to do that we all have to get stronger. We almost lost one of the party memebers because of it, and our teamwork could certainly use some practice. The fact that these are legendary monsters and not mini or sub bosses worries me. From what I can remember from the handbook, legendary monsters are powerful, unique monsters that drop rare and often unique equipment or items when defeated. They generally are around the same level, or a little higher, than the other monsters on their respective floors. But they follow no rules or guidelines in that regard. Sometimes a legendary monster might be, 10, 20, 30 levels higher than their counterparts on the same floor. Each one was unique and had different strengths and weaknesses.

After some careful thought and planning, Galen looked around to see that no one else had tried to speak yet. He looked over at Asuna, who gave him a smile in return. Alright, I know exactly what to do, he thought. Galen stood up before addressing the rest of the party.

"Is it alright if I speak?" asked Galen to the rest of the party. He was still new to them, so he wanted to earn their respect. Wolf stopped eating for a second, and nodded in Galens direction.

"Alright then" said Galen with new resolve. "We all saw what happened in the last boss fight. We fought hard, but it was tough, and we almost lost our lives. Honestly, if I had joined the fight from the begining, I might have died yesterday. And I dont want to sound condescending, because Im speaking of myself as well when I say that we could all use a little more practice with our teamwork. So I say lets do this quest." Everyone looked at Galen, but he wasnt sure if it was out of respect or curiosity.

"We all know that our ultimate goal is to defeat the floor boss, but before we can do that we have to find it first. We also have to get stronger, and work on our teamwork. This quest will allow us to do all of that. Sure, the rewards from the NPC arent all that great. Some col and experience. But by defeating these legendary monsters, we will get a ton of xp along with some unique equipment and/or item drops. But the most important thing is we will all be getting stronger, and learn how to better work together as a team. That way, after this quest we will be ready for the floor boss, and wont have to struggle like we did with the Solid Fist." Many of the players seemed to be nodding in agreement.

"The way I see it is, we should all friend request each other. That we will always know where everyone is at, and how high or low their hp is. We also need to stock up on teleportation crystals, so if anyone is in trouble, we can get to them quickly, or escape if the one in trouble is yourself. We can split up into teams, and find our respective legendary boss. Then assess the situation, the boss's level, abilities, its strength, etc. If your group runs into a boss that is totally out of your league, than leave it, and help out one of the other groups. Or wait for one of the other groups to be finished with their boss before they come to your aide. As long as we treat this for what it is, a training exercise, and not as if we are fighting 3 floor bosses, we should be fine. Dont risk your life out there, just fight hard and get some xp before we fight the floor boss. The only real discussion we should have is how we should split the teams. Any thoughts?"

Galen sat down after finally finishing his speech, wondering how it went. He was hoping everyone would be more trusting of him now, and take his advice. Galen didnt want to be ignored just because he was the newest member of the front lines. But he also wanted to earn everyone's trust and acceptance as a new front line member, and hopefully one day, as their new friend. Asuna gave him a reassuring look as she placed her hand on his shoulder for a second, as a sign of "good job".

"Well, I'm up for it." Zwei said. He needed money and he needed something to do, so he didn't really have to think that hard about it. "I agree with Galen, It will be a great opportunity for the group to get some training in teamwork, so I think we should go too."

It felt wierd voicing his opinion like this, he was never the talkative guy in rl. But like everything else, that had also changed. He didn't even recognise himself anymore. He acted almist like he was another person.

As soon as most of the front line members arrived in the restaurant, Wolf spoke about why he wanted to gather them together. He spoke about a quest that would involve defeating legendary monsters. The legendary monsters would probably be good practice to fight against before facing an all powerful boss. However Asuna was a bit worried about if they were all capable enough of taking on those legendary monsters. After all, several players nearly got killed in the last boss fight. The problem was how some players acted recklessly and there was a lack of coordination and unity.

She had never encountered a legendary monster before, which was probably the same case for everybody else in the room. The reward for the party quest was a lot of col for each member, which was a good benefit. Perhaps she could save that money and later on buy a house on a nice floor. Asuna saw that Galen wanted to speak out and that he was looking at her direction for reassurance. She smiled, letting him know that he should voice his opinion. After all, it might be the opinion that some other people were already thinking.

Even though Galen had entered more than half way into the boss fight, he was able to point out the chink in the armor. It was exactly what was on Asuna's mind, how the teamwork needed to be improved. Col would not be the only benefit to this quest, but a good teamwork building experience. The main difference between the fourth and fifth floor boss fights was how the dragon minions in the fifth floor separated the two groups from the start. The two groups were left to fend for themselves and there were some players that were helpless and could not support their team. One thing that never did happen was somebody using a teleportation crystal to leave a boss fight. Perhaps everybody was too proud of themselves to do such a thing, run away from a fight. However in this world, one's hubris could lead to their death.

When Galen asked if anybody else had any thoughts, Asuna decided to speak out as well. Even though she never spoke out in the other meetings, this was a good time to make her opinion be known.

"It seems like a general pattern is to split into 2 teams before each major boss fight. Each team should have a designated leader in case the teams get split up again like back in the fifth floor fight. We all agreed to let Wolf be our main leader and to be the leader of team one. Now we should decide who will be leader of team two."

Nick droped his plate on the pile next to him when wolf had explained the situation,
his ninth plate had arived and he was deep in tought.
The col would be welcome, and the drops might be worth the risk...

He wanted to step up and talk but he was beaten by galen.
After his speech nick looked at him out of respect.

"Well, I'm up for it." Zwei said.

That's two.

"It seems like a general pattern is to split into 2 teams before each major boss fight. Each team should have a designated leader in case the teams get split up again like back in the fifth floor fight. We all agreed to let Wolf be our main leader and to be the leader of team one. Now we should decide who will be leader of team two." Asuna said

Three.

Nick stood.

The col and drop's might be worth the risk, if we work together like the fourth floor we'll be okay,
the fifth floor we got reckless and a ego that was too big, we almost payed a high price, so i think we should do
what galen said, send friend requests and keep up to date on our status, while nick said that he was sending out his requests to further
cement his opinion on this, we need to be fast and efficient in this then we'll make it in time,

He was looking at the other players, most of them in deep thought and nick hoped they would accept the dangerous request from wolf,
if they made it they would be one step closer to the boss room of this floor and the bond between them might get better and more
trustworthy.

Galen. Nick spoke up. You're the newest member of this group...
But that doesn't mean we don't trust or respect you, i think you've already earned it by saving our asses in the fight.
I hope we can get along, so here's to a long a fruitful journey. Nick said as he walked over to gallen and held out his hand.

They shook hands and galen smiled, it looked like he was relieved.

Nick was nervous, in the real world he was a shut in, only interacting with others online without a face or true name, now this might have been true in SAO, but after the true game had started his face as well as the faces of the others had been shown.
He was uncomtrable with the idea but he quickly discarded that,
The job he had was the same deal, he was working in a shop that repaired computers, so the only one's he'd have to deal with we're the customers whom he treated more as numbers then people and his co-workers.
Time's changed. Nick tought and smiled.

In his speech he wasn't sure about the second leader, so he left that out for now.
He would simply observe for now.

Vyse walked the worn street in silence. The weather had taken on a chill, so he decided to wrap himself up in his cloak to keep himself warm. Along with the drop in temperature, the wind had also picked up, only adding to the coolness of the air. He continued on towards the designated point where he was to meet everyone, every now and then looking at his map to make sure he hadn't passed his stop. when he noticed he was running late, he let out a heavy sigh. I've really got to pick up the pace, he thought as he watched his breath appear in a cloud of mist, before dissipating into the air.

Soon, Vyse had reached the meeting spot, and as he pushed the door open, he hoped that he wasn't the last one there. Upon entering however, he saw that he was indeed the last to arrive, and the group was already deep in conversation. Between Wolf and Nick was a stack of plates, and the two familiar faces were buried in their meals. Upon seeing the food on the table, all Vyse's feelings of hunger returned to him and his stomach gave an audible gurgle. He gave a sheepish smile as he walked over to the table.
"Sorry I'm late guys," he said as he pulled up a seat. "So, what did I miss?"

When the waitress came walking past, Vyse grabbed her attention and asked for whatever Wolf was eating, and a cup of coffee. When she returned, she dropped a plate in front of him that contained what looked like ribs, smothered in a dark glaze. When he asked what it was exactly, he was told that it was the Death's Door Daer. Not wanting to know why it was named so, he didn't press for further information and instead dug in.

"I see you understand why I want to do this," Wolf said to Galen after he spoke up. "It's obvious the rewards from the monsters are going to be high in experience, that our teamwork will truly be bonded, and that we will receive a lump sum of col for completing our task, resulting in better weapons and armor once we hit the 7th floor," Wolf said. "I'm just waiting for ice type weapons."

Wolf saw as Vyse piled in and Wolf explained the situation to him briefly. Wolf had friended the main front liners, the ones there since at least floor 4, but he has yet to friend, Noiki, Galen, and Amon. He sent the three a friend request and watched as the rest of them exchanged requests as well.

Black had almost no one on his friends list, even though he had been in the last couple boss fights. The idea of exchanging names was a really good one and not just for the reasons that everyone thought. Though the idea of a quest was worrisome with the information he had, and although he was hoping to keep it quiet for now he decided he could not let the group go out without giving them a heads up.

Clearing his throat he looked at everyone and started to speak,

"As you are already probably aware I was... unable, to make it to the boss battle for certain reasons that I don't want to particularly get into right now. But I do have some information that you should be aware off. Wolf and Asuna know a little about this but for the rest let me brief you. A long time ago on a floor below this one I was chased by a group of pk'ers. I have a bit of a history with them." His face turned an ashen colour for a moment as he remembered the death of his wife. His mind coming back to the present he continued.

"Well they have recruited some players and are expanding. They have gotten a lot more cautious since their attack on me, wolf, and Zuloo on 4. They now have more people and are going around attacking groups with 4 or less people. They are calling themselves Laughing Coffin. Again his face darkened but this time for an entirely new reason. He was afraid to tell these players that he had killed in this game already even though it had been in self defence due to the possible reactions so left his history of the attack out. He hoped that Wolf would get the hint but he also knew that eventually he would need to tell them if he was to ever get help with his new side job, Moving on he continued

“Also to top all of this off I got some Intel from an old friend with whiskers. She mentioned that the reason that it's so cold is due to a special event happening soon. Somewhere on this floor there is supposed to be a daer with red nose in several herds. The one that kills the most of them will get a special prize though no one knows what exactly it is."

His throwing knives were equipped and he had some new equipment. People had started to call him many names since he had started his new mission but his friends called him black and he was starting to really look the part. He had on black armor the was not only good for protection, but it also had some great buffs for stealth. he also had black leggings, but to add a little color he had blood red gloves and a face covering that looked like it was meant for a ninja but he didn't have them equipped at the moment.

After passing on the information Black seemed to wilt under the pressure of being looked at. How he had changed in just the short time since his wife was attacked. Now he had grown to love the darkness and shadows. He wondered what she would think of him now as he saw the faces of those looking at him and wondered if he was going to have to fight his way out of the room.

"MUAHAHA," Wolf began. "Subarashi!" Wolf placed both hands on the table. "Based on your intel, you just saved our lives. But also, gave us something to do to train. Splitting up would've maximized the experience pool for the group as a whole but we could save the monster hunt for when we are stronger and just come back down to this floor." Wolf stacked all of his 10 plates and stood up.

The low chandelier placed above the table hit him hard on the head but he didn't lose health thanks to the safe zone. "We'll travel as a single unit. I'll devise a plan to better increase our coordination and teamwork. For now, pick a partner. We do everything in groups of at least two. We head out while the sun is still high."

Wolf opened up a virtual map and expanded it. He placed it on the table and selected the 3D view so it would pop up and show elavation and such. "So where shall we begin our search?"

Everyone else in the group seemed to agree with Galen, even Wolf. But then the player named Black told them all about his encounter with a group of Pk'rs called the Laughing Coffin and how they were preying on groups of 4 or less. Galen and the rest of the party had to rethink their strategy, because if they split up in smaller groups, they might get ambushed by the red players. Galen thought he saw something more in Black's words, as if he were holding something back, but he respected the man's privacy and didnt push further. Galen was worried, because he could handle a monster, but he had never dueled a player before. And if someone attacked Asuna, he wouldnt know what he'd do. If some punk tried to hurt her, I'd make sure he never left this world! he thought. As Galen began thinking about how he would be able to protect Asuna, she must have seen him scowling, because she looked at him with concern.

"Are you ok?" Asuna asked while placing her hand on Galen's arm.

"Yeah, just lost in thought. Sorry" said Galen forcing a smile. He didnt want to worry her.

"Subarashi!" yelled Wolf as he placed both hands on the table. A chandelier came crashing down on his head, but did no damage thanks to the safe zone. Wolf then explained how they would be better off coming back to the quest when they were stronger, to prevent them being caught off guard by the Pk'rs. "We'll travel as a single unit. I'll devise a plan to better increase our coordination and teamwork. For now, pick a partner. We do everything in groups of at least two. We head out while the sun is still high."

Galen and Asuna both looked at each other at the mention of splitting into teams of two. Both, it seemed, had already made their choice. Good, thought Galen. This way I can be sure Asuna will be safe. I will protect her, but will also have help from the rest of the gang.

Wolf then opened up the virtual map and placed it on the table for the rest of the party to see.
"So where shall we begin our search?" he asked.

Galen wasnt too sure about where the boss might be. Especially considering there were 3 legendaries out there too. He was hoping someone else in the party might have an idea of where to start looking.

As Wolf laid down his virtual map, the group began to discuss where they could start looking for possible training spots and the whereabouts of the boss' dungeon. Looking over the 3D layout of the floor, Vyse saw where he had been hunting the Wild Daer and encountered the Sand Worm. Leaning over the table, he said, "I was tracking a large pack of Wild Daer around here," he pointed to the map, "And while I was there I came across a rather nasty Sand Worm." The area was open and flat, with various small tracks running through the wheat fields which he assumed were paths the animals of the floor would frequent as they roamed. "If we're looking to increase our strength and teamwork, we could hunt down some herds of Daer. And I'm willing to bet that if we went a bit further," he drew a line with his finger to a small mountain range a little further outside of where he was "we may find some Scorpions and Sand Snakes."

He paused for a moment and let the information sink in. He was game for some hunting, even if no one else was. Slowly, he sank back into his seat and waited for the groups response. As he waited, he looked around at the player gathered around him, thinking about who he would partner up with. He didn't know who he would choose, nor who would want to be partnered with him. He had tagged along with these people for almost as long as he had been inside this world, but had never really bonded with any of them or gotten to know them well. Maybe there'll be an odd number of people and I'll end up on my own he thought to himself, secretly hoping it would not be the case. Even though he fought well alone, he liked the security a companion offered, plus he didn't mind having someone to talk to. Pushing the thought from his mind, he went back to surveying the map laid out on the table.

I say we go with vyse, we can train and level, and maybe find the legendary beast.
Nick looked over to the map and wat looking out for cave systems.

MMO wise the monsters will reside in these cave's if they are,but the map wasn't complete so we can't see inside the cave's thus we can't see how large it is in there,
if we are lucky the cave's only one large room with the boss, and if now, it'll be a big cave system with the legendary monster at the end.
That is if they are in caves

Nick looked around seeing the group lost in thought.

We should plan this out before heading out, just to be on the safe side of things.

The monsters on this floor are tough, but we can handle them, the legendary's on the other hand, we'll need to scope them out, see what level they are before we start a large scale conflict with them, if the worst case happens we can use the teleport crystals to get back to town.
If we stay on our toes we'll be fine.

Nick sat back down and started eating his ninth plate, hoping that the group would be ready to move soon.

"Also, before we even set out of the safe zone," Wolf added, almost forgetting some important facts. "We stock up on at least one healing crystal and one teleporting crystal. It's good to keep potions on you as well because my last potion saved me on that last boss fight. Wolf checked his almost empty inventory. He had one teleporting crystal because he hasn't used one yet and one antidote from a quest from the first floor. Keep in mind poison and paralysis."

Wolf pinged the location that Vyse mentioned earlier and sent it to everyone. He closed the map and began to head out the door. "Buy what you need, and meet me here." Wolf said pinging another location towards the end of the safe zone. "It's difficult to distinguish the difference between the safe zone and the combat area so don't venture too far."